Cold Weather Vented Garment

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to breathable, vented, and insulating cold weather garments. More particularly, the present invention relates to garments with chambers to retain an insulating fill material. Perforations along the seams between the insulating chambers may achieve optimal evaporative moisture transfer from the inside (proximal to the body of a wearer) of the garment to the outside environment.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not applicable.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not applicable.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to cold weather insulation garments. Moreparticularly, the present invention relates to breathable insulatingcold weather garments suitable for short term vigorous aerobic activitysuch as for example a run, a bike ride, a short hike around theneighborhood, etc.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With the desire to stay active year round, there is a need forbreathable insulating garments for use during physical activity in thecold weather months. Conventional cold weather garments may not allowfor moisture from perspiration to escape from the inside of the garment.The trapping of moisture from perspiration may be particularlyproblematic for garments constructed from inherently water resistantfabrics. Often, garments with fill material such as down or fibers areconstructed of textiles that are resistant to the fill materialpenetrating the textile, either partially or entirely. Such fill prooftextiles may be created using treatments such as a durable waterrepellant (DWR) or by weaving or knitting a textile of sufficient weightto retain the fill material. These approaches often render the textilewater resistant, however. Therefore, these garments may trap moistureinside of the garments, which may then lead to discomfort for thewearer, and eventually may become counterproductive as cold weatherinsulating garments.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to a cold weather garmentcapable of providing insulation and breathability, thereby overcomingthe problem of moisture release from the inside of a cold weathergarment in conventional garments. The cold weather vented garment inaccordance with the present invention may be especially important, forexample, to a wearer undergoing short-term physical exertion, such asaerobic activities like running, biking, hiking, other exercise, and/orphysical labor. When a person exerts physically, the normalphysiological response is to cool down the body by releasing moisturefrom the body in the form of perspiration. This physiological responsestill occurs in cold weather, especially when a person wears heatinsulating garments. Therefore, one of the objects of the presentinvention is to provide a cold weather insulating garment that mayprotect a wearer from extreme, external environmental conditions whilestill allowing for moisture from perspiration to escape to the outerenvironment.

Conventional cold weather garments and cold weather garments inaccordance with the present invention may be constructed using fabricstreated with down proofing chemical treatments, and/or water repellantsthat may also act as down proofing treatments, such chemical treatmentsreferred to as DWR (durable water repellant.) Although DWR is awaterproofing chemical treatment, in addition to waterproofing thefabric, it is also very useful for down proofing fabrics, especiallylight and ultra-light weight fabrics. For example, fabrics that mayparticularly benefit from DWR treatment for down proofing are lightfabrics (89 g/m²-30 g/m²), and ultra-light fabrics (29 g/m² or lighter).Down can have very sharp shafts that can poke holes through light weightfabrics, making them more susceptible to tearing or down loss over time.Other types of fill material, such as polyester fibers may lack thesharp shafts of down but are still challenging to contain with a lightweight textile. Heavier fabrics, such as fabrics with weights in therange of 90 g/m²-149 g/m², or even 150 g/m²-250 g/m² or higher may beinherently more resistant to down and may or may not need a downproofing treatment depending on the specific type of fabric/textile, butsuch fabrics may be used in garments in accordance with the presentinvention. Lighter weight fabrics may be more desirable in themanufacture of insulation garments in order to keep the garmentsreasonably light weight, especially in the manufacture of athleticand/or high aerobic activity insulating garments.

The insulating garment in accordance with the present invention may bemanufactured from a light weight fabric and may comprise a number ofinsulating, down or synthetic fiber filled chambers, separated by seams.Seams separating chambers may be spaced at varying intervals and mayhave any orientation and/or shape. The seams may be formed by activelyadhering two layers of fabric together with a suitable adhesive tapematerial, by stitching two layers of fabric together, or both using theadhesive tape and stitching. In the case of certain fabrics, a tape maynot be needed if the fabrics can be bonded without the use of tape.After the seams are formed, the seams may then be perforated with alaser cutter, an ultrasonic cutting wheel. Given the right equipment,the bonding and perforating steps may be performed simultaneously, forexample by using a welding and cutting wheel. The plurality ofperforations cut on the seams may be of different shapes and sizes andmay create different patterns. The plurality of perforations may becontinuous along the seams, or may be intermittently placed along theseams, or alternatively, the plurality perforations may be placedstrategically only on the seams that are located close to areas whereperspiration may be particularly high, such as along the back of awearer or under the arms of a wearer. The size and frequency of theplurality of perforations may be optimized to allow a desired level ofventilation, while still maintaining heat insulation close to the bodyof the wearer.

In one example of the garment in accordance with the present invention,the garment may be a standalone garment. The garment may be in the formof a vest covering a person's body core area, a jacket with sleeves, atotal body suit, etc.

Alternatively, the garment in accordance with the present invention maybe used as a removable inner insulating layer having an outer shellwhich may or may not be weather proof. This inner insulating layer mayalso be worn as a standalone garment when detached from the outer shell.Like in the previous example, the removable inner insulating layer maybe presented as a vest, a jacket, a body suit, etc, depending on thetype of garment and protection desired. For example, if the outer shellis a long sleeved jacket, the insulating layer may be presented as avest, a jacket, or a jacket with removable sleeves to convert into avest, depending on the amount of insulation desired. The insulatinglayer may be fastened to the outer shell by a zipper mechanism, buttons,hook and loop fasteners, or any other fastening mechanism available inthe market, and/or any combination of fastening mechanisms available.

Further, the garment in accordance with the present invention may beengineered into an outer shell. In other words, instead of beingremovable, an insulating and breathable garment in accordance with thepresent invention may be permanently attached to the outer shell. Thismay be achieved by stitching the outer shell to the inner insulating andbreathable layer at garment forming seams, meaning the seams located atthe top of the shoulders, and/or the side seams running from under thearm socket of a wearer along the length of the garment to the bottom endof the garment. Alternatively, an insulating and breathable layer may beintegrated into an outer shell layer by forming the shell from the sametextile as one or both of the textiles that form the chambers, byknitting or weaving the shell to the inner layer, using adhesive, etc.

Additional objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention willbe set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of thefollowing, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

The present invention is described in detail below with reference to theattached drawing figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a view of an exemplary cold weather vented garment inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2A is a close up view of a section of a venting seam from the coldweather vented garment in FIG. 1;

FIG. 2B is a close up view of a section of a different example of aventing seam from a cold weather garment in accordance with the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a small section of the cold weathervented garment in FIG. 1, where the insulating chambers are shown inrelation to the perforated seams;

FIG. 4 is a view of a different exemplary cold weather vented garment inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a close up view of a section of a venting seam from the coldweather vented garment in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a small section of the cold weathervented garment in FIG. 4, where the insulating chambers are shown inrelation to the perforated seams; and

FIG. 7 is an additional exemplary cold weather vented garment inaccordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a front view of a vented cold weather garment 100 inaccordance with the present invention. The vented cold weather garment100 in FIG. 1 may be made from conventional synthetic or naturalfabrics. The fabrics may be water repellent and fill proof, oralternatively such as in the case of light fabrics, they may need to betreated with waterproofing and down proofing chemicals such as forexample, the chemical treatments referred to as DWR (durable waterrepellent). Since cold weather garments may be down or synthetic thermalfiber filled, an upside of these treatments, is that they prevent thefill from poking through the fabric and, they prevent water moisturefrom the environment from entering inside of the garment. A downside ofthese chemical treatments on fabrics, is that these treatments maycreate a barrier preventing moisture generated from perspiration toevaporate.

The vented cold weather garment in FIG. 1 may be constructed by cuttingout a first inner panel and a corresponding second outer panel, for eachsection of the garment, from a fabric piece(s) (not shown). An adhesivetape suitable for the particular type of fabric may be placed on theinner face of one of the panels along predetermined sections of thepanel to form chambers with the desired shape. Once the adhesive tape isset in place, the second panel may be aligned on top of the panel withthe adhesive tape with its inner face facing the tape. Then, the twopanels may be pressed together with sufficient force and/or energyapplied, to activate the adhesive tape to create a bond(s) between thetwo panels. The adhesive tape may be activated by heat, or ultrasonicenergy, or any other type of applied energy. Once the fabrics arebonded, seams 120 with chambers 130 in between each adhesive tapedregion are created. The seams 120 may be spaced apart along the lengthof the garment (as shown), or seams 120 may be spaced apart lengthwise,perpendicular to the length of the garment, along the width of thegarment (not shown). The spacing of seams 120 may vary, as may therelative orientation of the seams and/or the shape of the seams,enabling chambers 130 to be different shapes and/or sizes. The chambers130 may then be filled with down, or synthetic insulating fabrics.Depending on the size and/or shape of the chambers formed, the chambersmay be filled with down or thermal insulating fibers, either manually ormechanically. Further, manual filling may be the preferred method if thechambers 130 are relatively small or irregularly shaped. Seams 120 maybe perforated during bonding, after bonding, and/or after filling thechambers. Perforations 110 may be formed using a laser, an ultrasoniccutter, and/or a mechanical cutter. The plurality of perforations 110may provide ventilation and moisture management by allowing moisturevapor from perspiration to escape to the outer environment. Provided theproper equipment, the seams 120 may be simultaneously formed andperforated in a single step, although the seams and perforations may beformed in separate steps without departing from the scope of the presentinvention.

In a different example of the garment in accordance with the presentinvention, depending on the fabric material used, the seams 120 may becreated without the use of an adhesive tape. For example if the fabricalready has adhesive properties, or is weldable by heat, pressure, orultrasonic energy, the seams 120 may be created and perforated withoutthe use of adhesive tape.

FIG. 2A is a close up of a seam 120. The seams 120 formed as describedabove, may be presented in a straight line (as shown), in a curved line,in a wavy line, or any other shape that may be useful, for example informing a chamber, and being visually appealing at the same time. Theseams 120 may be mechanically perforated by using a welding and cuttingwheel assembly, or may be perforated with a laser, an ultrasonic cutter,and/or a mechanical cutter to form the plurality of perforations 110.The plurality of perforations 110 may be of the same size, or differentsizes (as shown). The plurality of perforations maybe of differentshapes such as circular (as shown), triangular, rectangular, or anyother shape desired. The plurality of perforations 110 may be evenlyspaced in a straight line, curvy line, zig-zag, or any other suitableshape for placing the plurality of perforations 110 on seams 120.Additionally, depending on the size of the individual perforations,there may be multiple rows of perforations on each seam. The pluralityof perforations 110 may be presented continuously along the seams 120(as shown), or may be presented intermittently along seams 120, or maybe strategically placed only in the areas of high perspiration such asalong the back of a wearer, under the arms of a wearer, between the legsof a wearer, etc. The size and frequency of the individual perforations110 may be determined to provide optimal ventilation and breathability,while still maintaining the structural integrity of the fabric, andmaintaining a high level of thermal insulation. For example, the widthsize of each individual perforation in the plurality of perforations 110may range anywhere from 0.1 mm-5 mm, and the spacing between eachindividual perforation measured from edge to edge, may range anywherefrom 0.5 mm-10 mm. Other sizes and/or spacing of perforations may beused without departing from the scope of the present invention.

FIG. 2B is a close up of a seam 220. The seams 220 formed as describedabove, may be presented in a straight line (as shown), in a curved line,in a wavy line, or any other shape that may be useful, for example informing a chamber, and being visually appealing at the same time. Theseams 220 may be mechanically perforated by using a welding and cuttingwheel assembly, may be perforated with a laser, an ultrasonic cutter,and/or a mechanical cutter, or may be perforated in any other way toform the plurality of perforations 210. The plurality of perforations210 may be of the same size (as shown), or different sizes. Theplurality of perforations maybe of different shapes such as circular (asshown), triangular, rectangular, or any other shape desired. Theplurality of perforations 210 may be evenly spaced in a straight line,curvy line, zig-zag, or any other suitable shape for placing theplurality of perforations 210 on seams 220. Additionally, depending onthe size of the individual perforations, there may be multiple rows ofperforations on each seam. For example, as seen in FIG. 2B, there may bethree rows of perforations 210, wherein the perforations 210 of themiddle row may or may not be offset from the perforations of the firstand third rows. In the case where the perforations 210 of the middle roware offset (as shown), the offset distance may range anywhere from 0mm-10 mm, or any other distance suitable for the performance and designdesired in the final product. While in the present example, only themiddle row is offset, all or none of the rows may be offset or, if morerows of perforations are present, different rows may be chosen to beoffset. The plurality of perforations 210 may be presented continuouslyalong the seams 220 (as shown), or may be presented intermittently alongseams 220, or may be strategically placed only in the areas of highperspiration such as along the back of a wearer, under the arms of awearer, between the legs of a wearer, etc. The size and frequency of theindividual perforations 210 may be determined to provide a desired levelof ventilation and breathability, while still maintaining the structuralintegrity of the fabric and maintaining a desired level of thermalinsulation. For example, a desired amount of ventilation, breathability,structural integrity, and thermal insulation may be achieved in agarment using light fabric/textile and down fill with a width size ofeach individual perforation in the plurality of perforations 210 ranginganywhere from 0.1 mm-5 mm, and the spacing between each individualperforation measured from edge to edge ranging anywhere from 0.5 mm-10mm, although other sizes and configurations are within the scope of thepresent invention.

One way of measuring the amount of breathability of a garment, such asgarments in accordance with the present invention, may be by performinga hot-plate transfer test, which allows for measurement of theresistance to evaporative transfer of a textile or garment. The lowerthe resistance number obtained from the test, the less resistance toevaporation there is and therefore, the more evaporation that occursthrough the garment in a given amount of time. Garments in accordancewith the present invention may be shown to have lower resistance toevaporative transfer than un-perforated garments in hot-plate transfertesting.

The garment construction may become more apparent in reference to FIG.3, where an angled cross-sectional view 300 of a small section of thegarment with all the novel features, is shown. The garment in accordancewith the present invention may be constructed from a first inner panel310 and a second outer panel 320. The seams 120 and chambers 130 may becreated as described above in reference to FIG. 1. The chambers may thenbe filled with a fill 330, such as down or synthetic fibers.

Now, in reference to FIG. 4, a front view of a different cold weathergarment 400 in accordance with the present invention is provided. Likethe cold weather garment 100 of FIG. 1, the vented cold weather garment100 in FIG. 4 may be made from conventional synthetic or naturalfabrics. The fabrics may be water repellent and down proof, oralternatively such as in the case of ultra-light fabrics (29 g/m² orlower) and light weight fabrics (89 g/m²-30 g/m²), the fabrics may needto be treated with waterproofing and down proofing chemicals such as forexample, the chemical treatments referred to as DWR (durable waterrepellent).

The cold weather garment in FIG. 4 may be constructed in a fashionsimilar to that described above with regard to the garment shown in FIG.1 to form seams 420 to create chambers to hold fill material, with aplurality of perforations 410 formed in seams 420. The seams 420 may befurther reinforced by adding stitching 470 along their upperedge/boundary 510 and/or lower edge/boundary 520, as can be seen in theclose up view of FIG. 5.

Stitching 470 may be applied mechanically and/or by hand, and may useany type of thread, whether natural or synthetic. Stitching 470 may beapplied before or after applying pressure and/or energy to form seams420. Likewise, stitching 470 may be applied before or after perforations410 and/or before or after chambers 430 are filled.

The garment construction may become more apparent in reference to FIG.6, where an angled cross-sectional view 600 of a small section of thegarment with all the novel features, is shown. The garment in accordancewith the present invention may be constructed from a first inner panel620 and a second outer panel 610. The seams 420 and chambers 430 may becreated as described above in reference to FIG. 4. The chambers may thenbe filled with fill 630, such as down or synthetic fibers.

Alternatively, in a further different example of the garment inaccordance with the present invention, the seams 420 may be produced byomitting the adhesive tape layer altogether. In other words, the seams420 may be created simply by stitching 470 along the upper seam boundary510 and lower seam boundary 520. The plurality of perforations 410 maythen be placed in between the stitched boundaries. This example may bepictured better in reference to FIG. 5.

The insulating chambers in the garments in accordance with the presentinvention may be formed by welding separate pieces of fabric at eachseam, or as discussed earlier, may be formed by pressing two wholepanels with adhesive tape in strategic places in between the two panels.If the chambers were formed by welding separate pieces of fabric at eachseam, this would allow for the introduction of different textures,colors, or functionalities by introducing different types of fabrics atdifferent sections of the garment.

Further, the vented cold weather insulating garment examples shown inthe examples of FIG. 1 and FIG. 4 are vented cold weather jackets orcoats. However, the insulating vented garments in accordance with thepresent invention may also be constructed in the form of vests, pants,overalls, gloves, hats, etc. FIG. 7 is an example vest 700 in accordancewith the present invention. As seen in FIG. 7, the vest 700 may haveseams 720 with a plurality of perforations 710, forming thermallyinsulating chambers 740, which may be filled with down, or any otherthermally insulating material, such as polyester fibers. The vest 700may or may not have stitches along the edges of seams 720 forreinforcement of the seams. The vest 700 may be used as a light weightbreathable thermal insulation garment, for example by a runner.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that this invention is one welladapted to attain all the ends and objects hereinabove set forthtogether with other advantages which are obvious and which are inherentto the structure.

It will be understood that certain features and subcombinations are ofutility and may be employed without reference to other features andsubcombinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of theclaims.

Since many possible embodiments may be made of the invention withoutdeparting from the scope thereof, it is to be understood that all matterherein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to beinterpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:
 1. A coldweather vented garment comprising: a first inner panel; a second outerpanel corresponding to the first inner panel; a plurality of seams atpredetermined locations that join the first inner panel and the secondouter panel; a plurality of chambers formed between the first innerpanel and the second outer panel between the plurality of seams; athermally insulating fill material contained within; and a plurality ofperforations along at least a portion of the plurality of seams.
 2. Thecold weather vented garment of claim 1, wherein the first panel and thesecond panel comprise a fabric/textile that weighs 89 g/m² or less. 3.The cold weather vented garment of claim 1, wherein the thermallyinsulating fill material is down.
 4. The cold weather vented garment ofclaim 1, wherein the thermally insulating fill material is a syntheticfiber.
 5. The cold weather vented garment of claim 1, wherein the seamsbonding the first and second panels is created with an adhesive tapeactivated by the application of energy.
 6. The cold weather ventedgarment of claim 1, wherein the seams are reinforced by stitching.
 7. Amethod of making a vented cold weather garment comprising the steps of:cutting out a first inner panel and a corresponding second outer panelfor each section of the garment; placing an adhesive tape on the innerface of one of the panels along predetermined sections of the panel andplacing the other panel on top, with its inner face facing down; bondingthe two panels together by applying energy and pressure to activate theadhesive tape, with resulting seams along the taped regions, andchambers in between the seams; perforating at least a portion of theseams; and filling the chambers with a thermally insulating material. 8.The method of claim 7, wherein the thermally insulating fill material isdown.
 9. The method of claim 7, wherein the thermally insulating fillmaterial is a synthetic fiber.
 10. The method of claim 7, wherein theenergy applied to activate the adhesive tape is heat energy.
 11. Themethod of claim 7, wherein the energy applied to activate the adhesivetape is ultrasonic energy.
 12. The method of claim 7, wherein theperforating step and the bonding step are done at the same time.
 13. Themethod of claim 7, wherein the perforating step is done after thebonding step.
 14. The method of claim 7, wherein the perforating step isdone after the step of filling the chambers.
 15. The method of claim 7,wherein the seams created after bonding the two panels together arefurther reinforced by adding stitching along a lower edge of the seams,along a length of the seams.
 16. The method of claim 7, wherein theseams created after bonding the two panels together are furtherreinforced by adding stitching along an upper edge of the seams, along alength of the seams.
 17. The method of claim 7, wherein the seamscreated after bonding the two panels together are further reinforced byadding stitching along an upper edge and a lower edge of the seams,along a length of the seams.
 18. The method of claim 7, whereinperforations are formed continuously along the seams.
 19. The method ofclaim 7, wherein perforations are formed intermittently along the seams.20. The method of claim 7, wherein perforations of different sizes areformed.
 21. The method of claim 7, wherein perforations of differentshapes are formed.